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Fukushima residents seek immigration to South Korea
NATIONAL MAR. 06, 2012 - 03:45PM JST ( 45 )
SEOUL — A Japanese pastor has visited South Korea seeking immigration for dozens of residents after their region was devastated by a nuclear disaster last year, an official said Tuesday.

Pastor and civic activist Nagato Tsuboi from Fukushima visited the southwestern county of Jangsu last month, a county official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“He came with several South Korean estate developers and said he was looking to buy land at a place similar to Fukushima, like our county and Jeju,” he said. Jeju is South Korea’s southern resort island.

The pastor said dozens of Fukushima residents hoped to live in a safe place where their children could live with no fears of radiation, the official said.

The Fukushima disaster was sparked by a huge earthquake and tsunami, leaving more than 19,000 people dead.

The official said Tsuboi described Jangsu, whose main industries are rice production and livestock farming, as a place similar to the disaster-stricken Japanese prefecture.

The pastor promised to contact county officials after returning home. “But he has not reached us yet,” the official said.

Just saw a 1 page article (with 4 or 5 full color photos) in Time magazine yesterday in a bookstore, so I picked it up and read what it had to say. Not much other than that reminding us that it happened 1 year ago, and that it has not proved to be a shot in the arm for the Japanese economy as some expected it to be, followed by listing some of the economic problems facing Japan at the moment.

Not terribly informative on the whole imo.

As regards Vexx's question, though, I am interested in the same sort of things too ... I have some friends in Nagoya (native Japanese) who went and visited the Tohoku area a month or so ago. She periodically updates me about some of the practical details going on in that part of the tsunami-struck Japan these days.

From what I remember, she mentioned that the area still has a lot of work to do - she mentioned that the tsunami left very strange "scenery", that some parts of Tohoku show no sign of anything happening a year ago, but when you turn around there are empty zones - entire areas have vanished - some places that were only a few inches higher escaped being "wiped clean". There were still ships and concrete poles strewn across the empty wasteland left by the tsunami. There were still mountains of broken cars and plenty of wreckage - wreckage not just as a result of the tsunami proper but from the many fires that were started from both it and the earthquake as well.

Tohoku is a town based on the fishing industry (and other related business) - people still want to live near the shore where their ancestors have lived for centuries, even with (and after) the danger of the tsunami. The lands near the shore have sunk 2-3 feet. Even after a year the administration does not have a clear overall plan to restore Tohoku, despite "immediate needs" being focused on as they demand attention.

Interestingly, she told me that even though the people she met and spoke with still live in a life of inconvenience they were very warm and genial, and as they told of their terrible experiences (such as escaping from the water, how they were found and taken to shelters and later walked around the devastated parts of the town looking for their relatives) they "...looked calm and joyful. On their faces we saw the light of life. We were very impressed." But those in Tohoku also stressed that the disaster is definitely not "passed" and asked that people not forget both them and others who were hit by the earthquake and tsunami.

When facing a natural disaster, we often feel small and powerless.
Yet one small action, if carried out by millions of people will add up to make a BIG difference.

Today is 11th March 2012. For people in Japan, a day of remembrance.
Please take out some seconds to click to donate 1 yen to the Tsunami relief.
... If you have twitter you can donate another yen (2 yen per day).
Many claim to not have money to help others, but this only requires less than 1 minute of your time.
No excuses.

If you don't believe me, see how much has been donated to date from just 1 yen per click.
When we all focus our thoughts together as one, humans can be pretty cool

Website here
Of course, this can be done once a day, everyday. Perhaps you'd like to take upon a challenge to faithfully donate everyday via this website ^^

Also to abuse social networks, feel free to copy my above message for your Facebook.
For those on twitter, please copy below...

Actually, most of the documentaries came from NHK, with Ken Watanabe doing some of the narration.

Tomorrow, around 1:46pm, for a moment I'll drop work and give a minute of silence.

No wonder!
It is so politically correct with icing and cherry on top that it never touches the nitty gritty stuff.
I enjoyed their one hour program that came out right after the earthquake though.

I think if japan wants their people to remember the earthquake and bust their ass recovering from it, they should show the honest truth, not people washing photos and trying to return it to the owners.

What about the power plants?
What about the missing people?
What did the JSDF see???

When facing a natural disaster, we often feel small and powerless.
Yet one small action, if carried out by millions of people will add up to make a BIG difference.

Today is 11th March 2012. For people in Japan, a day of remembrance.
Please take out some seconds to click to donate 1 yen to the Tsunami relief.
... If you have twitter you can donate another yen (2 yen per day).
Many claim to not have money to help others, but this only requires less than 1 minute of your time.
No excuses.

If you don't believe me, see how much has been donated to date from just 1 yen per click.
When we all focus our thoughts together as one, humans can be pretty cool

Website here
Of course, this can be done once a day, everyday. Perhaps you'd like to take upon a challenge to faithfully donate everyday via this website ^^

Also to abuse social networks, feel free to copy my above message for your Facebook.
For those on twitter, please copy below...

Ah, cool. Thanks for the link to that site, Mystique! I will try and click the button on that site every day. This is such a very easy way to contribute something to the relief efforts. I hope a lot of people who see the link to that site gets involved, if they haven't already.

I'm going to speculate: many of these people are butthurt rednecks. Of course, since then, many of 'em have been hit by drought, tornado, etc. In that position, they'd be crying to the federal government for disaster aid, or something.

Even if they're not in that kind of position, they'd be crying just the same.

I'm going to speculate: many of these people are butthurt rednecks. Of course, since then, many of 'em have been hit by drought, tornado, etc. In that position, they'd be crying to the federal government for disaster aid, or something.

Even if they're not in that kind of position, they'd be crying just the same.

Let's face it, some Americans, just everyday, average joe Americans, are bad people. Those people that thought the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan was karmic punishment for Pearl Harbor are very ignorant and stupid, among other bad things. I mean, really people? Like that article points out, around 2,400 people at Pearl Harbor died from the attack and then around 1,800 were injured. Then we declared war on Japan and ended up killing hundreds of thousands, if not (and probably) millions of Japanese civillians with fire bombings and the A-bombs. Then after WW II, Japan became a peace loving nation and a great ally to the U.S., and has been a peace loving ally to the U.S. for decades. But look out! Japan still needed to pay more for the Pearl Harbour incident! Because those weren't just any people that died at Pearl Harbor. They were Americans, and as we all know, an American life is worth significantly more than the life of all non-Americans.

Kyuu, I am gonna forget about the scumbags, cause why would I waste precious time of my life that I'll never get back worrying or even thinking about flea brain sized idiots.
Ignorance sometimes is a greater weapon that action. At least for Asuki, methinks most have got their heads screwed on right here

@ Tenken:
You're welcome, I'll add it to the charity sticky later and stick in my own signature too.
I doubt it'd be overkill to have it as a global announcement on the forums so everyone sees it when they next log into Asuki *coughadmincough*

__________________

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. - Van Wilder"If you ain't laughin', you ain't livin'." - Carlos Mencia

I'm going to speculate: many of these people are butthurt rednecks. Of course, since then, many of 'em have been hit by drought, tornado, etc. In that position, they'd be crying to the federal government for disaster aid, or something.

Even if they're not in that kind of position, they'd be crying just the same.

They might want to reconsider that position if, or rather when, the Cascadia Subduction Zone snaps off the coast of Oregon and Washington state.

Already some doomsayers are predicting a major quake in that region on March 22. Why that specific date? Apparently it's 11 days after the anniversary of the Tohoku quake, just as Tohoku was 11 days after the anniversary of the Chile quake.